An Italian honey making business has been stung for more than £100,000 after two million prize bees were killed in a suspected mafia hit.

The mass slaughter was carried out using several canisters of insecticide on the honey bees with police suspecting the gang used protective clothing to prevent stings.

Detectives think the mobsters carried out the blitz as part of an extortion racket on the owner of the apiary but he has denied any previous intimidation or demands for money.

The specialist aviary is situated at Titignano near Pisa and owned by Sergio D'Agostino and the prize bees are used to make the popular Italian Millefiori brand.

Buzz off wiseguy: Bees were given insecticide they couldn't refuse (Photo: Barcroft)

Police said the mafia gang had used wire cutters to get through a fence during the night and had sprayed more than a dozen hives scattered across the apiary before escaping.

Mr D'Agostino said:"I've no idea why anyone would want to do something like this. I've lost more than two million bees and the financial cost will be huge - we are talking tens of thousands of Euro.

"This is the prime time for the bees and whoever did this knew what they were doing. It's going to take me months to get back to where I was before this attack.

"They used a powerful insecticide which you can buy in any shop and just took the hives out. It is a slaughter and they came at night so they could not be seen.

"Each hive is worth around 400 Euro then you have the bees on top and we were due to have a new and we were due to get new clusters in shortly - that will have to be cancelled now."

A police spokesman said:"This was obviously carried out by a gang of people who knew what they were doing. They used powerful insecticide and we suspect they were probably wearing protective suits.

"We have asked local hospitals to let us know if anyone comes in with multiple stings but so far there have been no reports. The possibility this was an operation linked to organised crime has also not been ruled out.

"We are working closely with the owner of the apiary to see if he has been the victim of threats or extortion in the past from organised crime gangs.

"It is a business operation which makes a considerable amount of money and they have now suffered financially as a result."